B. about 1632 in France
M. about 1689 in New France
Wife: Marie-Françoise Lacasse
D. 21 May 1712 in Beaumont, New France
There’s confusion about Étienne Blanchon, a 17th-century settler of New France. Was he one man or two?
The Ètienne Blanchon of this biography was born in France in about 1632. His first verified appearance in records was on the baptism of his daughter on September 28, 1690 in Beaumont, New France. His wife was Marie-Françoise Lacasse, who at age 20 was about 40 years younger than Étienne. They had three more girls, and two boys who seem to have died young, born during the next nine years. Only the oldest daughter was married off by the time Étienne died on May 21, 1712 at age 80.
So where was Étienne for about the first 58 years of his life? The answer may be that he was actually Étienne Blanchon dit Larose, a Quebec City settler who had been married twice.
The other Étienne Blanchon
Étienne Blanchon dit Larose was born in Riom, France, a village in Auvergne; his parents were Jean Blanchon and Antoinette Rochon. Étienne arrived in New France on June 30, 1665 as a soldier in the Carignan-Salières Regiment. A year later, on September 10, 1666, he married a widow named Anne Couvent at the Notre-Dame church in Quebec City. Anne wasn’t a young woman—she was said to be in her 60s at the time of her marriage to Étienne, who was believed to be in his early 30s. Needless to say, the couple didn’t have any children together, and she died in 1675.
On June 30, 1676, he married again in Quebec City, this time to Anne Vidault, another widow, although closer in age to Étienne than his first wife. They had five children together, born between 1677 and 1682, in addition to three from her first marriage, plus another child who was adopted. The family was listed in the 1681 census living in the lower town of Quebec City, with Étienne working as a tailor. The following year, a fire swept through the town and destroyed their house. Étienne was said to have left his family and sailed back to France that year. The records seem to indicate that he never returned to them. The last mention of Étienne was in a legal document dated October 23, 1684 when Anne asked for authorization from him to sell some of their property. Another document from 1695 shows Anne handling issues of their property and seems to indicate that she was a widow.
Was Étienne one or two men?
Father Cyprien Tanguay, who published seven volumes of family data extracted from Quebec parish records, identified both men named Étienne Blanchon as the same person. But most other genealogists dispute that, saying that they were two different people. It’s impossible to say which is correct, however there doesn’t seem to be definitive evidence to disprove Tanguay’s claim.
The question remains: if Étienne Blanchon who married Marie-Françoise Lacasse wasn’t the man who arrived in Quebec in 1665, who was he? And when did he arrive from France? Most single men who migrated in the 1680s were soldiers, and were much younger. During that time, it would have been highly unusual for a man living in France in his late 50s to uproot himself and seek a new life along the St. Lawrence River.
Children by Marie-Françoise Lacasse:
1. Marie-Françoise Blanchon — B. 28 Sep 1690, Beaumont, New France; D. 29 Apr 1768, Beaumont, Quebec; M. Jacques Fournier (1684-1767), 27 Nov 1708, Beaumont, New France
2. Charlotte Blanchon — B. 26 Mar 1692, St-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-de-Lévy, New France; D. 26 Sep 1716, Quebec City, New France; M. Étienne Carpentier (1688-1724), 25 Nov 1715, Quebec City, New France
3. Catherine Blanchon — B. 28 Feb 1694, Beaumont, New France; D. 10 Jun 1720, New France; M. Claude Rancourt (1691-1743), 4 May 1717, New France
4. Etienne Blanchon — B. 1 Nov 1695, Beaumont, New France
5. Bernard Blanchon — B. 25 Mar 1698, Beaumont, New France
6. Suzanne Blanchon — B. 29 Sep 1699, New France; D. 15 Nov 1772, Quebec City, Quebec; M. Louis Parent (1695-?), 27 Nov 1719, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1997
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